Beneath the Smoke
253 Words
The chapel behind them crackled, flames licking through its ancient wood and stone. Elena’s face stung from the shallow cut, but it wasn’t the blood she tasted — it was fear, bitter and rising. Luca didn’t loosen his grip on her hand as they disappeared into the dark hills, only stopping when the fire was a distant orange glow in the valley.
“I think we lost them,” he said, his voice ragged.
Elena collapsed onto a mossy rock, chest heaving. “What the hell was that? Who were they?”
Luca crouched beside her, wiping soot from her jaw. “They weren’t random. Whoever they are... they knew where to find us. And they knew about the flash drive.”
She pulled it from her pocket, the small device now warm from her palm. “Then we need to know what’s on this.”
Luca nodded. “But not here. Not yet.”
They found shelter in a ruined watchtower, wind humming through broken stone. He built a fire in silence, glancing at her now and then — not with lust, not even concern. It was something deeper. Guilt. As if saving her had cost something.
Elena turned the flash drive over in her hands. “Do you regret meeting me?”
Luca didn’t answer. He only stared into the fire and whispered, “Everything changed the moment you walked into my life.”
Outside, thunder rolled over the Aegean horizon. Inside, silence swallowed everything but the storm within them both.
- Writer
